What ever happened to those Afghan detainee documents, anyway?

OTTAWA — More than a week after party officials of all stripes enthusiastically called for the release of much-anticipated Afghan detainee documents, the subject appears to have fallen off the radar, raising questions about whether it was all nothing but bluster.

Let's remember that it was back in December 2009 that Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament after the House of Commons adopted an order seeking documents that would shed light on whether Canada knowingly transferred Afghan prisoners to the hands of torturers, triggering accusations he was trying to cover up wrongdoing.

The Harper government maintained releasing the material would threaten national security, but nearly five months later, then-House speaker Peter Milliken ruled Parliament was entitled to the documents and he called on all parties to come up with a plan for their release.

On June 15, 2010, Harper, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe signed a "memorandum of understanding" (MOU) outlining the process by which documents would be vetted and released. The NDP declined to take part, believing the process was secretive and unlikely to reveal crucial information.

The Ad Hoc committee comprised of Conservative, Liberal and Bloc members scrutinizing the tens of thousands of documents under a cone of silence, recently completed its work and the panel of judges overseeing the effort announced last week that it was prepared to begin releasing the material.

Unfortunately, the dissolution of Parliament and subsequent election campaign meant there is no longer an ad hoc committee to receive the documents or a Parliament in which to introduce them. Noting the MOU "contemplates that under certain conditions" the process will "survive the dissolution of Parliament," the judges said it won't be known whether those conditions have been met until Parliament reconvenes. As such, they vowed to continue their preparatory work pending further instruction.

So what did the parties have to say upon hearing all this?

Conservatives

"We are aware of the letter sent by the panel of judges overseeing the release of documents regarding Taliban prisoners. The Conservative party fully supports and, in fact, encourages the documents to be released," Laurie Hawn, one of two Tories on the now disbanded ad hoc committee said.

He clarified his statement in a subsequent Canadian Press report in which he noted no process exists to make the documents public in the event of an election. He said the decision now rests with the judges, but suggested a joint letter from the parties involved might change things.

Liberals

"The Canadian people have a right to see the documents related to the transfer of Afghan detainees," Ignatieff said in a statement.

"We owe it to the brave men and women serving in our Canadian Forces and to the Canadian public to get to the bottom of this issue and only full and immediate transparency will achieve that."

Ignatieff called on his Conservative and Bloc counterparts to join him in seeking the immediate release of the documents, even if it means amending the memorandum of understanding to "satisfy" the panel's concerns.

He urged Harper and Duceppe to work with him to amend the MOU and set last Monday as a deadline for completing the task. Party officials have since confirmed there have been no new developments in the matter.

NDP

Having opted out of the ad hoc committee, the NDP isn't directly involved in the process but Paul Dewar, the party's foreign affairs critic before the writ dropped, said he supports the immediate release of the documents, even though he doesn't believe they'll provide much insight.

"We have a process that was flawed from the beginning," Dewar said.

"They're going to release documents that have been pretty much scrubbed and they're probably not going to release (them) because of the election."

Bloc Quebecois

Duceppe demanded the immediate release of the documents and noted his party had officially pulled out of the ad hoc committee. Last month, the party set April 15 as a deadline for their release and vowed to quit the process if it didn't happen.

"They are ready," Duceppe argued. "They should simply be released to the public."

The panel of judges would not respond to media requests and it appears there's been no movement on plans to amend the MOU. Given the unique nature of the situation — an ad hoc committee isn't subject to the same rules as a regular parliamentary committee — a spokesman for the Privy Council Office couldn't say for sure whether an amendment by signatories of the MOU is enough to get the documents released.

Queen's University professor Ned Franks, an expert in parliamentary procedure, suggested the all-party cry for the immediate release of Afghan documents was "probably a bit of political theatrics."

He does not believe any mechanism exists that would allow the documents to be released, given the current situation.

"I'm going to be a traditionalist on this," he said. "On Afghan detainees, it was simply (about) the power of Parliament to have access to documents. It wasn't about the public's right to have documents. It was Parliament's right."

He suggested the MOU was signed on behalf of Parliament, which of course, doesn't currently exist, and can't be altered without authorization from Parliament.

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